ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia and IBS News Around the Web

A hallmark of our time, fatigue is one of the most common health concerns that cause people to seek medical attention. The spectrum can run all the way from feeling run-down after an intensive work period to chronic fatigue syndrome, a disabling condition diagnosed after months of debilitating tiredness.

In 2008, the Company reported significant progress on its various technology platforms. The NDA for Ampligen(r) commercialization as a potential treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (“CFS”) was accepted for review by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) in July 2008, and various discipline review letters, received from the Agency, were responded to by the Company in December, 2008 and January, 2009.

Can people think themselves sick? This is what psychiatrist Simon Wessely explores. His research into the causes of conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome and Gulf war syndrome has led to hate mail, yet far from dismissing these illnesses as imaginary, Wessely has spent his career developing treatments for them. Clare Wilson asks what it’s like to be disliked by people you’re trying to help.

West MP Stephen Hesford MP has opened an advice centre for people with Fibromyalgia. Situated at the Champions Business Park in Arrowe Park, provides unique one-to-one and helpline support for Fibromyalgia sufferers across Merseyside and Wirral.

“I think your real problem is stress,” the doctor said when I complained that the muscle injections he was giving me hadn’t relieved my neck and shoulder pain. “You can’t blame me for everything that’s hard in your life,” he said. My bursting into tears only seemed to confirm his diagnosis.

Remember those videos you saw in grade school about your circulatory system or your neurological system? I remember learning about the heart and the brain, how they work, and how to keep them healthy. I don’t remember ever getting such information about the digestive system.

In their Rational Clinical Examination article, Dr Ford and colleagues1 considered history and physical examination in establishing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) as a cause of a patient’s lower gastrointestinal symptoms. In their discussion, they stated that current guidelines for the management of IBS do not recommend routine screening for celiac disease.